Today is the Eve of the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross. Below are some quotes from the Early Church Fathers on the Cross. The first one is from Saint John Chrysostom. BUT let us with a clear voice, shouting both loud and high, cry out and say (and should all the heathen be […]

Yes, I remember 9/11. Like everyone else who was an adult in the USA back then, I remember where I was. I was in Birmingham, AL and I was at home. I was a priest in charge of a Spanish-speaking mission for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and visitor at a couple of other sites. […]

Saint Seraphim of Sarov is my patron saint. There are various sayings attributed to him which are backed up by the way in which he lived his life. One set of them treats the subject of gentleness: You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant […]

His Eminence Metropolitan Philip asks that every parish of the Antiochian Archdiocese hold a Trisagion service at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy this Sunday, September 11th, 2011 to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks on this, the 10th anniversary of that horrific occasion in the life of our country. Please also remember the families […]

After my recent post on baby boomers and the crime rate, one of the readers made a very good comment: I’m having a difficult time following the argument leading to the conclusion that Baby Boomers caused the rise in crime indicated on the graph. Brings to mind, “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” We could graph […]

Working at the VA means that your heartstrings get tugged on a regular basis. Whether it is the sight of a veteran young enough to be your son or daughter, but scarred or missing a limb, or whether it is the sight of an older veteran who is no longer what he or she was, […]

The statistics above are rather interesting statistics. Despite the fact that they come from the Wikipedia, I have gone to the website of the FBI and confirmed some of the figures in order to ensure that they are graphed correctly. Most baby boomers have grown up with a crime rate that increased from the time they […]

Various comments prompted me to wait a couple of days and think before posting again. You see, while the concept of culture does help to explain various behaviors and attitudes that one sees in different parts of the world, even in different parts of this nation, the concept has to be handled with a certain […]

Over the last couple of days I have posted some sobering statistics on both divorce and cohabitation in the Bible Belt. To recap, the Southern states of the Bible Belt have the highest divorce rate in the country, the highest cohabitation rate in the country, the highest marriage rate in the country, and the youngest average age […]